A major concern among Reiki practitioners has been the inability to bill
client's insurance companies for treatments. However, today
there are avenues available to the practitioner.A nurse who
practices Reiki and wishes to bill an insurance company for
a treatment may use the diagnostic code 1.8 - Energy Field Disturbance.
The diagnostic code may only be used by nurses and is recognized
by the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association. The bill
should be accompanied with a separate sheet setting forth the
assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation.
This information may be found in the Official Newsletter of
the American Holistic Nurse's Association (Vol. 15-No. 4, April
1995)

Energy Field Disturbance is defined as a disruption of the flow of energy
surrounding a person's being which results in disharmony of
the body, mind and/or spirit. Defining characteristics of EFD
are - temperature change (warmth and coolness), visual change
( image/color), disruption of the field (vacant, hold, spike,
bulge, movement (wave, spike, tingling, dense, flowing), and
sounds (tones/words).

For those practitioners who are not nurses and wish to submit their bill(s)
to the client's insurance company, there is still a solution.
Use a letterhead with your name, address, phone number and social
security number. If you practice under a business name, use
its federal I.D. number instead of your social security number.
Address the bill to the insurance company, using the client's
name, group number and/or plan number. If the treatment is due
to an auto accident, use the claim number. The client should
provide you with this information. Use a heading on the bill
entitled "For Professional Services Rendered". Below
that, and this is very important, state "bio-energetic
modalities" or "therapeutic modalities services".

List the dates and length of session under this heading along with the
amount you are charging for each session. Do not be surprised
if you receive a letter or phone call from the insurance company
requesting a code.

At
this time, you can explain that you are a Reiki practitioner
and cannot diagnose, but that there is a code the American
Holistic Nurse's Association uses which is 1.8.

Attach
a page to your bill entitled "Evaluation Sheet". It
should list the categories of Initial Interview, Treatment and
Final Evaluation .

Initial
Interview - How the client presented him or herself. i.e. the
patient's complaint

Treatment
- Explain the length of time of treatments, number of treatments
and how the patient responded to the treatments.

Final
Evaluation

(a)
Give a date of last treatment and patient's response after the
treatment

(b)
Recommendation as to further treatments. This will keep the
door open for the insurance company to pay for additional treatments.

This
Evaluation Sheet is the medical model of SOAP which the doctors
use in charting a patient. SOAP stands for subjective, objective,
assessment and plan.

If
a medical doctor referred a patient to you, attach a copy of
the referral letter to the bill. This helps the credibility
to your treatments and billing.